AN era will come to a close at the end of next month when Trevor Hunt steps down as chair of the National Conference League.
He has been at the helm for 19 years and, prior to that, was vice-chair for around a decade.
His involvement with what I habitually describe as amateur Rugby League’s flagship competition goes back even further and could, indeed, be said to predate the competition’s launch (as the National League) in 1986.
I hadn’t appreciated, until I interviewed him for a future League Express feature, that Trevor was the driving force behind the launch of the Champions’ Challenge Series, which involved top grassroots sides from around the north of England and provided compelling high-quality pre-season entertainment, over a couple of days, at Leigh Miners’ Twist Lane ground each year.
Those were terrific, vibrant occasions and I recall writing, on returning from a day there in the mid-nineties to cover a Super League game at Castleford, how flat the atmosphere at Wheldon Road (as it was then known) for a visit of, I seem to remember, Paris Saint-Germain, seemed by comparison.
The Champions’ Challenge, which Trevor introduced in 1981, led to top amateur clubs appreciating the benefits of cross-county competition and, just five years down the line, the National League was up and running with ten teams, which has now risen to almost 50.
Trevor has been involved throughout and therefore leaves a lasting legacy.
He and I have, it has to be said, occasionally clashed on a range of issues (there is surely something amiss if folk always agree, isn’t there?) but those differences of opinion have always been founded on a fundamental respect for other views, which I believe is how life should be in general, certainly for anyone who is lucky enough not to live in a totalitarian society or who hasn’t been sucked into the black-or-white world of anti-social media.
I’ve always recognised (especially when running clubs or leagues of my own) that it can be all too easy snapping at the ankles of those who have judgements to make. It’s a very different matter having to make often difficult decisions, always without the benefit of hindsight of course.
Perhaps my overriding thought of Trevor is of how closely we worked together for many years in covering NCL games for rival newspapers (League Express, Rugby Leaguer and League Weekly).
It might surprise readers to learn how much often-competing journalists work together and I’ll never forget standing in a pie shop one Sunday morning during a family holiday in deepest Wales while Trevor very kindly faxed a couple of dozen match reports to me.
Not all the regular customers, some of whose pies went cold when the proprietor became diverted by dealing with the flood of faxes, were overly happy.
Trevor, who has similar memories, including while he was in Australia, has a wealth of experience to offer and I‘m delighted that he hopes to continue as the NCL vice-president.
The wisdom and knowledge garnered over many decades will, without doubt, be invaluable and it seems to me that a management team comprising Mike Denning (who hopes to succeed Trevor as chair), Tony Johnson, who plans to continue as vice-chair, with Trevor on hand to proffer advice, and club stalwarts such as Joe Fitzsimmons and Billy Dillon already in place is a recipe for a successful future.
In the nearer horizon, meanwhile, I hope to feature in next Monday’s issue details of the squads for the North versus South Student Origin game, which is set for early February as the final stage in the process of selecting the 2025 England Universities side.
And, looking to 2025, I fervently hope that a general slide in open-age Rugby League at men’s amateur level can somehow be arrested.
The problem is one that is being experienced by all sports, in truth, but as far as our own game is concerned I share the view, held by many, that changes designed to speed up the professional game don’t necessarily suit the grassroots which, after all, is amateur.
A letter in our mailbag late last year also stuck in my mind, the writer expressing concern about the physicality involved in three or four-man tackles.
How much can an ordinary bloke’s body take, was the gist, I think I’d add, too, concerns about the corresponding mental impact.
This all brings me back to a perennial mantra of mine. If we eventually agree to slow the pace of the game down and cut back on multi-tackles, we have only to reintroduce contested scrums, and reduce the number of substitutes to two.
That (if it’s not too late, because scrummaging might now be a lost art) would lead to forwards being more tired and less able to impose themselves on outnumbered ball-carriers.
Perhaps I’m being simplistic. I certainly am when I call for the relaunch of pub rugby, if only because there are so few pubs around these days from which teams could operate. But that’s a whole other story of course!
A happy New Year to all our readers.
